Front row start for Pedrosa as Marquez crashes on final lap

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa will start tomorrow’s final GP of the season from 3rd on the grid, with teammate and 2014 World Champion in 5th after a small crash on his final exit in qualifying.

Variable windy conditions once again plagued the Valencia track and finding the optimum setup has been a difficult job. Marc had a small crash this morning in FP3 but had been fastest in every session so far this weekend and both riders were in a prime position for qualifying after finishing 1st and 2nd in the final FP4 session. However, as qualifying began the wind swept in and created tricky conditions. Dani made a few small mistakes on his first exit but in his second run he was able to improve and his lap time of 1’30.999 (lap 9/9) places him in 3rd – just 0.156 seconds off pole.

On his final lap Marc was on a fast lap, with a session best first sector but lost the front coming into turn four. Unable to get back to the garage in time, Marc had to settle with his time of 1’31.144 (lap 6/6) and missed out on a front row start for the final GP of 2014 by just 0.145 seconds.

Tomorrow’s race is expected to be a closely fought battle with eleven riders within 0.643 seconds of each other. With a 29 point lead over their rivals in the Team Championship, the Repsol Honda Team could win the Triple Crown tomorrow if Marc and Dani don’t lose more that 16 points to Lorenzo and Rossi.

Dani Pedrosa

“It was a difficult qualifying because there was much more wind than in the morning session. That made it hard to calculate the entry to corners and when to brake. As a result, I made a few mistakes and couldn't set a good lap at the beginning. Later, when I took the corners with a better line, the tyres were more worn down. At the end I was able to find those two tenths necessary to get onto the front row, so tomorrow we need to make the most of the position and have a good race.”

Marc Marquez

“On the one hand I'm happy, because we have a great pace and a great setup for tomorrow, but on the other hand I am a little annoyed that I made a mistake in qualifying. I apologise to the team, because we could have fought for pole position. I made one mistake on the first stint and another on the second, causing me to crash. You learn from these things and I'll go out tomorrow looking to enjoy the race, because we are ready to battle for the win.”

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Location Information

The Circuito de la Comunitat Valenciana was completed in 1999 and held rounds of the MotoGP and Spanish Motorcycle Championships in the same year. The Cheste track has several layouts, running anti-clockwise with varying lengths. MotoGP events are held on a 4km track comprising of five right handed corners, eight… read more.

Location Information

The Circuito de la Comunitat Valenciana was completed in 1999 and held rounds of the MotoGP and Spanish Motorcycle Championships in the same year. The Cheste track has several layouts, running anti-clockwise with varying lengths. MotoGP events are held on a 4km track comprising of five right handed corners, eight… read more.